The date was Oct. 8 and the Hopewell Valley Central High girls’ soccer team was playing Allentown in a key Colonial Valley Conference regular-season match. In the first half, Katie Reinhart lifted a free kick on goal that Delainey Ross headed into the back of the net to break a scoreless tie and spark what would become an important 2-0 victory.
It was a fitting connection, since it highlighted an affiliation that started 10 years ago. And that partnership will be on full display for the Bulldogs girls basketball team this season. Hopewell is in rebuild mode and the two juniors are being counted on heavily by Delainey’s mom — head coach Coleen Ross.
“Delainey is gonna be our top defender, we’ll look to her for steals, to be at the top of the press, be our rebounder,” said Ross prior to Hopewell’s season-opener. “I am calling on her to try and score a little more. She was very deferential to Kennedy Havens in the post last year. We obviously need someone to step into that role.
“Katie is definitely gonna be an offensive threat. She, too, was deferential last year to Gillian (Magner). She needs to step out of that shell and come alive.”
With the two being asked to provide leadership, they are happy to have each other to lean on as they set the tone.
“I think it is great that we have a young team,” Ross said. “It provides us with new talent, new people, and new skills. I am happy to have Katie by my side to help with the leadership role. We are both pretty vocal and outgoing which allows us to connect with the younger kids. It also will help by balancing the pressure. It will be split between both of us and not just one person.”
Reinhart was in hearty agreement, adding that “Having Delainey here to help lead will make it so much better. We can both rely on each other for different things, and we both have the necessary experience to know how to lead effectively. We’ve seen in the last two years how other groups of upperclassmen have acted as leaders, and now we know what to replicate and what to change in how we interact with the team.”
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The two friends began playing soccer together in first grade, and Coleen Ross remembers being part of the car pools that took them to different practices and games. She recalls when they started basketball in fourth grade that her daughter had a little meltdown en route to the first practice.
“I remember clearly Delainey screaming in the car, ‘Oh my God, I forgot my shin guards!’” Ross said. “I told her ‘You don’t need shin guards for basketball.’”
They have played both sports ever since, and have been on the varsity teams since they were freshmen. Despite being a basketball coach’s daughter, Ross considers soccer her number one sport, while Reinhart said “both are pretty even in which one has a bigger impact on my life.”
Through her first two hoop seasons Ross averaged 4.1 points and 6.3 rebounds while collecting 38 assists, 32 blocked shots and 91 steals in 46 games. Reinhart averaged 6.0 points and 1.8 rebounds while amassing 36 assists, 12 blocks and 46 steals.
“Katie is definitely our offensive threat,” Coleen Ross said. “She can shoot the three, she can drive and pull up. She can control the tempo of the game for us. Delainey is more of the defensive threat. She’s setting the tone at practice and in the game defensively. She’s the vocal one on the floor. We’re gonna need her to not be 5-8 and to actually be 6-foot and box out and grab a rebound.”
Ross feels that to overcome her height disadvantage she can use her strength as an advantage. She also gets opponents off balance on defense and is tenacious in clearing space underneath.
“Delainey is a great leader who always brings the energy and enthusiasm to practices and games,” Reinhart said. “She’s aggressive and not afraid to dive on the ground to secure a loose ball. Not only that, but she’s a great post-player who can take on many opponents, and she’s one of the best rebounders in the CVC.”
Reinhart is looking forward to the challenge of increasing her scoring output. She is known as a 3-point shooter but is looking to penetrate more to give herself increased opportunities. Over the summer she spent her weekends practicing ball handling, which helped improve other areas of her game.
“Katie is a great basketball player,” Delainey Ross said. “She is an amazing shooter. She can shoot threes and score from anywhere in the paint. She’s good at taking on players one-v-one and finishing. Katie is also a great leader. She is vocal and positive. She is one of the hardest workers on the court, and I am glad to have her as a teammate.”
She better be glad, considering how long they have been teammates. Coleen Ross loves watching their chemistry on the court and marvels at how well they anticipate each other’s movements.
“We’re gonna benefit from that once they get the confidence to be the go-to players this year,” the coach said.
Reinhart feels that playing two sports together in which teamwork is so important, has helped immeasurably.
“We’ve grown to trust each other on and off the court, and we’re able to easily communicate,” she said. “On the court, Delainey and I have a really strong, unspoken connection. We’re always looking for the backdoor cuts from each other and we always know when to switch on defense. We are always looking for each other to make plays.”
The fact they have become close friends also helps.
“We have a lot of chemistry,” Ross said. “Especially for basketball, Katie and I work very well with each other on the court. I would say we are very in sync and we know what we want to do when one of us has the ball.”
And while their cohesiveness is an attribute, so is the fact they are coming off a highly successful soccer season in which Reinhart scored the game’s lone goal against Allentown in the CVC Tournament final.
“We’re in a building year,” Coleen Ross said. “We lost six seniors, we lost 70 percent of our scoring. But they came in with the mindset it can be done. It’s not gonna be easy and we’re gonna have to do whatever we have to do to get there. They’ve been bringing that mentality into the season, piggy backing off their tremendous soccer season and showing the younger kids ‘Hey it’s gonna be tough but we’re gonna get there.’”
The players want to do well for their coach as well as their team and themselves. In a way, they are both like daughters to Ross.
“Knowing Ms. Ross personally for all these years has increased our relationship during basketball season,” Reinhart said. “She has shown that she trusts me and believes in me to help lead the team. Knowing her on a personal level has also given me confidence in myself because I know that I can trust her.”
And then, of course, there is Coleen’s real offspring, who said, “Having my mom as a coach is great. She can be a bit tough on me since I am her daughter, but I love learning from her. She gives me advice on my shooting, and we always discuss our game plan for upcoming games. Basketball has brought us closer and I am grateful for that.”
As for the coach herself, it has been a rewarding ride watching the two close friends come up through the ranks and improve as athletes.
“It’s been great just seeing how much they’ve grown, from that first basketball practice I drove them to,” Ross said. “And now, to see the two of them be such great leaders on the court for the younger kids; and to see the maturity and how they came over from the soccer field to the basketball court leading us into the season, it’s just great to see.”
Hopewell Valley basketball players Katie Reinhart and Delainey Ross will look to lead the young Bulldogs this season.,
